By Tony Attwood
Recently on one of the Sky TV channels in the UK we had The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival. It was first broadcast on BBC Four on October 14, 2007. It was Rebroadcast on satellite tv 7 August 2026 and I am given to understand it is scheduled for further repeats
My computer suggests this concert is available here. I am not sure about that link but you can try and see if it gives you the whole show – it certainly works for me in the UK.
And yes, if you are not familiar with the piece I would certainly recommend it. It’s a good viewing and listening – especially the bits in the late hours when the only people listening and watching are Dylan fans.
And I would go a stage further, because I think it is worth watching from a historical point of view as the recording comes from the time when Bob was first contemplating bringing out the electric band for a folk music audience.
For the recordings show that that some of the electric versions of the songs simply didn’t work – listening now they feel very under rehearsed as if Bob had assumed that just as he could get up and play a solo piece, so now, each instrumentalist would know what to play without considering and understanding what everyone else in the band was doing. And even with a genius like Bob it doesn’t work like that. Sometimes it doesn’t sound that good.
But that is not to say I am suggesting you listen to something awful. The fact is that the arrangements don’t work – it was booed, and listening now after all these years, and admiring so much of Bob’s electric work, I think we can see why. It wasnt rehearsed it wasn’t ready – but somehow Bob was assuming that rehearsal wasn’t needed.
For example, the live performance of Rolling Stone really takes away a lot of the essence of the song, and adds nothing. When Bob says “you’ve got nothing to lose” the answer is yes you have – the essence of the song.
But stay with recording, if you go there, if for nothing other than the Bob Dylan Newport gig which includes the throwing of the harmonicas into the audience before the Tambourine Man. I do find that strange!
The primary films capturing Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival are the 2007 documentary The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival, directed by Murray Lerner, and James Mangold’s 2024 biographical drama A Complete Unknown.
But we also get some documentary Footage such as The Other Side of the Mirror (2007): Directed by Murray Lerner, this 83-minute documentary compiles footage from Dylan’s consecutive appearances at the festival in 1963, 1964, and 1965.
And what I find so interesting here is the way Dylan could change what he was doing while continuing to possess the sublime confidence that he could do it he would be heard and his message would be heard and understood
Also I noticed how clear the songs are, how relaxed Bob is how informal he can beeven with an out of tune guitar which just wont get into tune and then straight into With God on our Side as a stunning duet with phenomenal harmonies – they just do it (with Baez)
The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965 is a documentary film directed by Murray Lerner. It captures Bob Dylan’s musical shift from an acoustic folk troubadour to an electric rock star across three historic festival appearances.
Type in “The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at the Newport Folk Festival in UK” and you’ll hopefully find it